Saudi Arabia: Arbitrary Arrest of Samar Badawi, Human Rights Activist and Sister to Raif Badawi

On 12 January 2016, human rights defender Samar Badawi was arrested by members of the Jeddah Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution, which had summoned her a few days before to appear for questioning. Detained with her baby daughter at the Alsalamah Police Station, she was interrogated for long hours about some tweets she posted from her Twitter account − such as congratulating human rights defender Mohamd Al Bajadi on his release in January 2015 − as well as other tweets she posted from her husband Waleed Abu Alkhair’s twitter account. Although Samar was released on 13 January, criminal proceedings against her may still be ongoing.

A well-known human rights activist, Samar relentlessly defended her husband, human rights lawyer Waleed Abu Al Khair and her brother, the blogger Raif Badawi sentenced to 1,000 lashes in 2014. She was herself the victim of past reprisals, such as a 2014 travel ban issued against her after her participation in the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.

“This arrest shows that the Saudi authorities are not willing to improve the situation of rights and freedoms in the country and especially for human rights defenders,” said Radidja Nemar, Regional Legal Officer for the Gulf at Alkarama.

Concerned over the continued harassment of Samar and other human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia, Alkarama seized the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (SR HRD), asking him to call upon the Saudi authorities to stop harassment and end all criminal proceeding against Samar, as well as to put an end to the repression of human rights defenders in the country.

For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at media@alkarama.org  (Dir: +41 22 734 1008).